How family terror networks impact terror attack investigations?
Family terror bonds – also known as family terror networks – comprise two or more people from the same clan who aid in or carry out terrorist activities. Well-known examples of such incidents include two sets of brothers and three cousins who participated in the terror attacks on 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombers and the husband and wife San Bernardino terrorists.
Overseas instances of this terror phenomenon include the Paris attacks in November 2015, the Brussels incidents in March 2016, and multiple suicide bombings by two different families in Surabaya, Indonesia, in May 2018. Investigating terror suspects may lead to surprising findings regarding other crimes of individuals and their family members.
The threat in the United States of family-linked terror is real. As I found while researching my recent book on the topic, case study samples from nearly 120 such instances included some 50 with U.S. links – either the extremists were from the U.S. or spent time here, including during an attack. The participants ranged across ideological spectrums (for example, jihadism, sovereign citizens and militia) and family types (spouses, brothers and cousins).
In the United States, as internationally, families have been cajoled by Islamic State propaganda. In 2014–2015, a Mississippi couple (Jaelyn Delshaun Young and Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla); a Texas family (Michael Wolfe and Jordan Furr), comprising a husband, a wife, and their children; and three Illinois siblings (the Khans), including two minors, were apprehended at different airports while trying to join the self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
Couples may commit terrorist acts. Also, they may collude with other similarly inclined people. In February 2015, a Missouri-based couple, Ramiz Zijad Hodzic and his wife, Sedina Unkic Hodzic, along with four other U.S.-based Bosniacs, faced charges of conspiracy to give and giving material support to terrorism. The six were accused of distributing funds and materials to Abdullah Ramo Pazara, a former U.S.-based Bosniac who traveled to Iraq and Syria to join jihadists.
Even those outside the nuclear family can have significant effects on others to spur participation in terrorism. In November 2016, Ohio-based Munir Abdulkader was sentenced to 20 years in prison for providing material support to ISIS and trying to kill a returning U.S. soldier, among other crimes. Abdulkader claimed he wanted to fight with ISIS. His cousin died fighting with the group.
Family terror networks are important for multiple reasons:
-Households are an integral part of traditional social networks, which allows radicalization and recruitment to occur in a setting of trust, confidence and privacy;
-The family unit has a greater level of legitimacy than the outside world;
-Even after detection of a kin-linked terror cell, deradicalization and disengagement programs may not succeed as family members may impede participation.
The zeal and skills gained through a family setting are magnified more than in other situations. Household members can teach the best practices of extremism to others. Parents or other kin may intimidate household members to support radicalism or even carry out a martyrdom operation. Often, the bullied family member agrees out of duty, honor, or fear. This radicalism exploits the trust and security features that exist in households.
During initial investigations of terror incidents, government authorities often interview family members of alleged terrorists. This may lead to such family members being taken into custody for further questioning or even arrest. Later inquiry into potential family links may be resolved. Sometimes, family members in multiple locations may become another part of the inquiry.
This path is used often after a successful large-scale terror incident, as in the June 2016 Pulse nightclub attack by Omar Mateen in Orlando, Florida. The investigation included his father and wife. Inquiry into Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, led to the discovery of her possible knowledge of and assistance with the planned attack. Also, she was allegedly deceitful during interactions with authorities after the incident. In January 2017, Salman was charged with aiding and abetting in giving material support to ISIS and obstruction of justice. In March 2018, she was found not guilty on all charges.
Mateen’s father, Seddique, articulated pro-Taliban sentiments in diverse media before the attack. He was investigated about his son’s plot. In March 2018, the government admitted Seddique had been an FBI informant for 11 years before Omar’s strike at the nightclub.
Incipient investigations may suggest that a terror family-affiliated network exists. Later inquiries may show the threat is less pronounced than expected. The family may be deemed not involved in radicalism at all. In 2011, multiple members of the Khan family (Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, the imam at the Miami Mosque, and his two sons Irfan and Izhar) along with three others based in Pakistan were charged with conspiracy to give material aid to terrorists and to the Pakistani Taliban. Charges against the sons were dropped. In 2013, Hafiz was found guilty of material support crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Source: Police One
